According to a press release from the MP, the drugs were stored in 64 packages on a boat that was intercepted south of Punta Burica, in the border area with Costa Rica.

In the operation, the three crew members of the boat were arrested and brought before a judge.

In another recent operation called Tocumen, they also seized 500 kilograms of cocaine and arrested 21 members of the criminal gang led by Dangelo Ramírez, still a fugitive from justice, which operated in the provinces of Darien, Panama and Panama Oeste.

According to the prosecutor’s office, Ramirez is on the National Police’s most wanted list and was acquitted by a court in 2016 of money laundering, after he was linked to the seizure of $1 million.

Panama, which seized a historic 128.7 tons of drugs in 2021, is used as a springboard for drugs produced in South America, with the United States as its main market.

The country’s public security agencies have seized more than 100 tons of drugs this year, a record figure for this period in the last 20 years, according to official data.

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